The reason why Francis Ford Coppola made his allegorical drama, Apocalypse Now, was that he wanted to deal with the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War and, in a broader context, explore the dark corners of the human psyche. The film is loosely based on Joseph Conrad’s novella Heart of Darkness which Coppola adapted and reshaped to his own needs. The filming in the Philippine jungle was very complicated. It bore fruit very tardily and with considerable growing pains. These problems were captured in the feature-length documentary Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse which consists of footage shot by Coppola’s wife, Eleanor. The production background of this unique film discloses a remarkable portrait of a fiercely independent filmmaker who was deeply obsessed with perfection and truly passionate about film.
Programmers:
Michael Málek, a senior film curator and programmer and an occasional film historian and translator who likes to observe what was and is happening in film in different times and places and who has always been most interested in Hollywood and everything related to it.
Programme sections
